A total of 43 Russian athletes were banned by the IOC. Three more are still waiting to have their appeals heard and one — bobsledder Maxim Belugin — has not appealed.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) overturned the IOC suspensions – for doping at the 2014 Winter Olympics – partially upholding 11 other appeals.

In the statement explaining its decision, Cas said its mandate “was not to determine generally whether there was an organised scheme allowing the manipulation of doping control samples in the Sochi laboratory”.

It said it was “strictly limited to dealing with 39 individual cases and to assess the evidence applicable to each athlete on an individual basis”.

CAS said that in 28 cases evidence was “insufficient” to prove doping.

Cas secretary general Matthieu Reeb said there was only “circumstantial evidence” that supported individual claims of doping.

He added: “It is a matter where there is no direct evidence, such as positive test or a voluntary admission.

“This does not mean that the 28 athletes are declared innocent, but due to insufficient evidence the appeals are upheld, the sanctions annulled and their results in Sochi are reinstated.”

Alexey Voevoda is NOT one of the 28 doping cases overturned by CAS – Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Alexander Zubkov, who was Alexey Voevoda’s teammate in both Two-man and Four-man bobsleigh at Sochi 2014, was one of the 11 (eleven) whose doping offences were confirmed.